Strategic Favor
by Sebe
Summary: Based on 2x10 preview. Stiles may be a wreck at the moment, but he's still the smart one that can pull himself together just to not have to see them suffer. Pre-pack feels? Sterek Derek/Stiles and Scott/Allison.


Author's Notes: Shortie based on recently released preview for 2x10. Looked like maybe Stiles was having a panic attack, Scott's wounded, the parents are likely to be let in on the supernatural situation, and bad things are after Allison who still wants her vengeance on Derek.

Summary: Based on 2x10 preview. Stiles may be a wreck at the moment, but he's still the smart one that can't see them suffer. Pre-pack feels? Sterek (Derek/Stiles) and Scott/Allison.

**Strategic Favor**

Stiles looks around blearily, off balance from the lack of oxygen and still gasping hard. When he looked down to see his father's arms still wrapped around him, he saw the beds of his nails were slightly blue. He knew from experience that his lips probably matched, which explained why his dad was more scattered than he'd seen him in years. He was still talking in Stiles' ear, trying to calm him down like he had when he was younger.

But Stiles wasn't a child anymore and he had things, _people_, to fix.

Scott lay on his side, still recovering from bullet wounds that his mother kept pressure on. They'd managed to tell her and Stiles father about the whole 'werewolf healing' thing, but when your baby is hurting, well, that mom instinct can be stronger than any wolf's. Derek's the only one still standing and, despite the whole, 'grr, I'm a werewolf' pose, he looks a bit lost. Stiles hears Allison scream off in the direction the kanima and Matt had pursued her and pulls himself together as much as he can.

"You have to save her." He's shocked he manages it in one breath, ah, adrenaline. It held up even in the face of oxygen deprivation and, what would always feel like, a heart attack. Derek turns to look at him, a confused little furrow to his brow. "Save her, Derek."

The wolf turns to face him, eyes wide.

"Are you insane? Her family is trying to kill everything like me and she's gunning after me _specifically_. Why the hell would I help her?"

Stiles wants to explain. Tell Derek about how hurt Allison is, how her psycho family's been feeding her half-truths and whole lies to turn her vicious. He wants to tell Derek that if nothing else, it's to protect him and his pack because Allison's death would only send more bloodthirsty hunters after them, not to mention likely destroy Scott. He wants to say that if Derek protects her, maybe they can really _save_ her the way they were going to save Jackson. He wants to tell him to please, please, just trust him, just this once because _everything_ is riding on it.

But Stiles doesn't have the air for it, gasping harshly so that it's only his father's arms around him that keep him remotely vertical and the black spots are getting bigger. He tries to convey it with his eyes, but he's up against a wild animal backed into a corner and neither are functioning on that level.

Finally, Stiles huffs out a breath that's more of a helpless sob, curling forward. He thinks about how useless he's proven himself to be once again, kept from doing anything by his own body and mind.

He hears Scott screaming, howling, through the cacophony in his head and turns to see his best friend, his brother, crawling toward Allison's voice; dragging himself along the tile, leaving a bloody trail as his mother turns more frantic.

"You owe me."

"What?"

"You-" he breathes as deep as he's able and finally drags his eyes from Scott up to Derek. "You owe me."

He holds the wolf's gaze until he sees recognition. This is an out and somehow, Derek knows that. Stiles is giving Derek an out to saving a hunter. A debt he owed Stiles for saving him. Even if Derek had saved Stiles too, it was an explanation he could give if confronted by his pack or anyone else that wouldn't make him seem weak. Wolves repaid their debts.

But Derek still had to be willing to trust that Stiles knew what he was doing, telling him to save Allison. It was a gamble, but it was all Stiles had to work with.

He looked at Derek levelly, hearing Scott's voice grow more wounded, his mother's, more desperate. He wouldn't let this happen. He couldn't.

"Save her."

After an eternity that is really only scant seconds, Derek nods at him and takes off.

Relief crashes over Stiles and, apparently, that's the go signal for the rest of him to shut down.

He really hopes he's not putting many more grey hairs on his father's head when he passes out in his arms.

Derek stands in front of Allison as the kanima and it's master finally give in for the evening and run off. He lets them go. With every second he stands there, his back to a hunter out for his blood, he repeats his most recent mantra, _'You better be right, Stiles'._

He keeps on growling it to himself in his head as he walks toward the door, never turning. Allison moves behind him and every instinct is telling him to turn to face the threat. He makes his mantra louder. After a few rough breaths, he gets his answer.

"Why?" Allison asks him. She's hurt, but not seriously. "I'm trying to kill you. Why would you…do that?"

She shakes her head in confusion, tears in her eyes. In that moment, he doesn't hear the vengeful hunter, but the lost kid they all still had the tendency to be. Scared, grieving, and knocked out of the nest far sooner than they should have been. Because of that, he can let some of his anger toward her abate.

"Not about you. It was a debt I needed to repay." Not exactly what he didn't even know he meant to say, _'Because he asked me to'_, but it's close enough. And, eerily, Derek thinks she knows what he means because something about her…softens, shoulders sagging.

She only nods at him, dazed. He sizes her up, then walks away, going back to check on the others with no further threats. If his pace was a bit quick, it was to check on his pack, because he wasn't worried about how pale Stiles had been or the unhealthy rhythm of his heartbeat.

This gesture wasn't much, was hardly even an olive branch when compared to a centuries old war, but it was a start.

Derek's steps falter a bit when he thinks that, maybe now, he does actually owe Stiles one.


End file.
